Geneva, Switzerland 26 March 2018: Today, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) released its second report as part of a series called Insights from the Reporting Exchange.
The new research takes a closer look into opportunities for alignment in sustainability reporting, with a deeper dive into corporate governance requirements across 60 countries, building on the strong need for further harmonization that the first report in this series outlined.
As a positive sign, the research shows that there is already alignment across various reporting regulations on a global and regional scale, from environmental impact assessments, workplace accidents and illness to corporate governance codes. This is vital because convergence in global requirements is essential in developing good practices and ensuring comparability of information across jurisdictions.
The report shows that there are corporate governance codes in 52 of the 60 countries included on the Reporting Exchange, which show some clear similarities, in particular with the subject matter and the principles they cover. The strongest aligned subject areas are risk management and internal control, corporate leadership and remuneration, as well as dialogue with shareholders, whereas the most inconsistently applied subjects were those associate with accountability.
The global coverage of corporate governance codes appears to highlight a widespread understanding of the need for good governance for a prosperous economy and society.
To find out more detail and areas of convergence read the report here.
This paper is part of a series that expands on the research and data insights from the Reporting Exchange, showcasing how it can be used as an important tool for bringing clarity to the reporting space.
